Absence
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: It is only after a great deal of time has passed that the dragon feels the girl's absence. Armada project: 7/365


**This has to be one of my favorite fics that I've written for the Armada project. Sadly there's no real way to write this pairing as happy? But maybe someday I'll try.**

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Deep within a forgotten corner of the world, in a cavern tucked away into old growth forest, stirred old evil. Ancient eyes stared out from a youthful face at his surroundings, sunlight slanting down through the canopy to the forest floor. Birds chittered, and small things rustled in the undergrowth. Hares - to his keen hearing.

But something was off with the scenery. Had been off for quite a while, though he was only taking note of it now. What was missing? Nothing ever really changed in these woods. Perhaps a particularly violent storm would take down one of the giants, leading to a surge of new growth where it had fallen. Or a small fire would ravage the place (he would vacate for a season or two before returning to find the place as thriving as it had been before). Humans never really came up this far up the mountainside, and the whatever human laid claim to the area as their demesne (as humans inevitably always did) did not care to inspect their domain thoroughly. So encounters were uncommon. In fact, the only human he had seen in some time was...

Oh.

That's what was missing.

How long had it been since he'd last seen the slip of a blonde girl? It wasn't uncommon for seasons to pass between her visits, but how many had it been this time?

He found he could not quite recall. Time had little meaning or value to him, but he did notice its passing for the most part.

Had he finally succeeded in getting rid of her permanently? He'd been trying ever since she first appeared in his cave, during a thunderstorm - tiny and shaking and drenched and sobbing. She had immediately darted beneath his cloak and could not be removed from his side. Deeming it too much effort, he had admittedly not tried very hard to.

After that, she periodically came back to chatter at him. The pest. Though he had to admit it was an entertaining change - being sought out without malicious intent. Every time she came, she was little taller. A little less of the small child lost on the mountain seeking shelter (he wondered just where she was coming from, though he never stirred himself to find out).

When had she last come?

Years, maybe?

Had something happened that prevented her coming?

Was she dead? Dying in youth was not a foreign concept to him; it had been commonplace in the time he'd been born. Making it to old age had been much more of a feat - one he had yet to achieve himself, he thought wryly.

Somehow, the idea of her dying unsettled something inside of him. He might have called the location of his discomfort his heart, but it had been many centuries since he'd possessed one of those bothersome human things.

Could she be avoiding him? Had she suddenly realized how odd it was to seek out an unaging man living deep in a mountainside forest cave?

Had he chased her off, somehow?

He tried to recall their last couple of meetings. She had been... a teenager, he thought. All angles and gangle, and lots of blonde hair. The memories were fleeting, like a passing summer breeze and just as hard to hold onto.

 _"What would you do if you found out you had a destiny to fulfill? One you weren't prepared for - one you didn't want?"_

A snort arose at the memory, the same as his reaction then. He couldn't remember what he'd told her, but he was sure he'd responded. And then she'd smiled at him, though it was obvious that it had been an unsatisfactory answer.

 _"If you wanted to run away from everything, what would you do?"_

Asking a mountain hermit that question probably hadn't been wise. What answer had she been expecting from him?

...Why couldn't he remember it?

 _"What would you do if the person you know is so different from what everyone says? That you know they're not lying, but that the truth you've seen doesn't mesh?"_

That had been the last time he'd seen her.

Only now, years later, did that send alarm streaking through him.

Maybe he could find her, he decided. Just to ask. He could do with a stretch anyway; staying too long in one area had lulled him into complacency, and the itch to _move_ was strong.

Finding what he sought was unlikely, at best.

It wasn't long before black dragon wings darkened the sky.

Either way... he would probably not return here.


End file.
